People

MarYam Hamedani

MarYam Hamedani

Senior Research Scientist

RaceWorks Project Director

Dr. MarYam Hamedani is Senior Research Scientist at the Stanford Center for Social Psychological Answers to Real-world Questions (SPARQ). SPARQ is a “do tank” that partners with practitioners in government, business, education, and nonprofits to craft solutions to our communities’ most pressing problems. As a social and cultural psychologist with her PhD from Stanford, Dr. Hamedani's expertise lies in fostering more inclusive and equitable college environments, helping people from diverse backgrounds think and talk about difference in empowering ways, and improving students’ educational outcomes through social and emotional learning and social justice education-based strategies. She has also researched how American individualism can influence the ways in which people experience and interpret social justice issues in the U.S. Her work has been published in leading journals such as Psychological Science and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and has been covered by national media outlets such as National Public Radio, ABC News, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, and The Huffington Post. Prior to joining SPARQ, Dr. Hamedani was Associate Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) and the Stanford Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE).